Babyn Yar: A Memory We Must Never Lose

On September 29, Ukraine commemorates the victims of the Babyn Yar tragedy — one of the most horrific symbols of Nazi terror and the Holocaust in Ukraine.

On September 29–30, 1941, Nazi occupiers and their collaborators murdered nearly 34,000 Jews in Kyiv. In the following years, Babyn Yar became a site of mass killings of prisoners of war, Roma, patients of a psychiatric hospital, Ukrainian nationalists, and other people whom the Nazi regime subjected to persecution and extermination. The total number of victims of the Babyn Yar tragedy is estimated at tens of thousands.

Babyn Yar is not merely a page in the history of Kyiv or Ukraine. It is a reminder of the consequences of dehumanization, hatred, propaganda, and the criminal disregard for human life.

Remembering the tragedy of Babyn Yar means calling crimes by their proper names, preserving the truth about their victims, and passing this memory on to future generations.

For the university community, preserving historical memory carries particular importance and responsibility. Education and science make it possible to study difficult chapters of the past, counter the distortion of facts, and help society better understand the mechanisms that lead to mass violence.

Today, as Ukraine once again faces Russian aggression and encounters crimes against civilians on a daily basis, the memory of Babyn Yar takes on particular significance. It reminds us of the cost of indifference and of the need to protect human dignity, freedom, and the right to life.

Karazin University honors the memory of all innocent victims of the Babyn Yar tragedy.